This is a review of Buyeos, a local (Brunei) Taobao agent/shopping service.
Disclaimer: I am not paid nor sponsored by Buyeos (or anyone else) to write this review. The review is based solely on my opinions and experience with the shopping service.
Buyeos, at the time of post, is currently operating through Facebook (I think it has an external website1 but somehow it is not up yet) so communication between the agent and customers is done via Facebook messaging system or through Whatsapp.
My own experience with this shopping service…
Timeline
April 8 – I placed an order for 4 items
April 9 – I paid for the items and the agent purchased them for me. Later on I was informed one of the items was sold out so I had to pick a different item.
April 17 – Half of the items arrived in Brunei
April 23 – The other half of the items arrived in Brunei
April 24 – The package was mailed to me
April 26 – Package finally arrived into my hands
My items came in this package
The items came in this FEDEX envelope. I don’t think the items are delivered by FEDEX but hey, if they do, I am not complaining.
Altogether 4 items in that envelope
Honestly I have NO IDEA how they managed to fit these 4 items into that envelope. I tried putting them back but I just couldn’t! LOL
So what exactly did I get?
Item 1
Pink bag
Stain and hanging threads
I am not entirely happy with this bag. It reeks of chemical smell and it can be overpowering. The quality is also not superb and I found a small blue stain on the strap and hanging threads.
Item 2
Fake Liz Lisa dark brown dress
This is a fake Liz Lisa brown dress. It doesn’t even try to hide the fact that it is a fake. Here’s the proof:
It reads, “Joylife”. LOL
Item 3
Fake Liz Lisa white dress
This is the second fake Liz Lisa dress in this haul. I must say I quite like this one because even though it smells of some sort of chemical but the fabric is nice and the fur on the collar feels really soft. Not too bad for a fake.
Item 4
Fake Liz Lisa short dress
My favourite in this haul. The colour is actually pale yellow but it isn’t so obvious in this picture. I really like the fabric even if it is nowhere close to the quality of authentic Liz Lisa but when I tried it on, some of the threads came apart (a sign for me to lose weight!) so I had to do a quick fix. T_T
As you know all the dresses are fake Liz Lisa items (can’t really afford to buy the authentic ones all the time 
) but I’m quite satisfied with the them. I tried looking for a brown Liz Lisa camisole on Taobao but I think they’ve run out of that.
Pink bag (http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=14722203224): BND$11.81 + BND$3.62 (domestic shipping) = BND$15.43
The fake Liz Lisa brown dress (http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=15255263677): BND$9.61 + BND$2.89 (domestic shipping) = BND$12.50
Fake Liz Lisa white dress (http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=10461074786): BND$12.03 + BND$2.89 (domestic shipping) = BND$14.92
Fake Liz Lisa short dress (http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=9508614552): BND$16.63 + BND$2.89 (domestic shipping) = BND$19.52
International shipping (within 2kg): BND$30
Total = BND$92.37 (approx. USD$75)
Operation time is from 7.30 am to 9 pm GMT+8 from Monday to Friday. But at one time they did work at really odd hours. I’ll talk about this in a bit later.
Placing orders
Placing orders is easy. Basically you’ll need to send all the necessary information of the items to Buyeos through the messaging system or Whatsapp. Generally that would include the following:
URL of item (eg. http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=9244983428)
Quantity
Size
Colour
Special requirements (if any)
Take note of the price of the item. Sometimes the item may be on sale so make sure Buyeos knows about it so they can get the item at the discounted price and charge you accordingly.
Buyeos will provide you with a quote/estimate of the prices (converted to BND) including the China domestic shipping. Once you confirm this and agree to proceed with the purchase, Buyeos will again calculate the total cost of the order. This total cost is inclusive with the shipping to Brunei and agent service fee.
Here is the breakdown of the fees.
Total cost= Item cost + China domestic shipping fee + international (to Brunei) shipping fee + service fee
International shipping fee depends on the volumetric weight of your items and the packaging.
For the first 500g, you will be charged BND$12
Subsequent 500g, you will be charged BND$6
The only shipping method available is air express since there is no EMS service from China to Brunei. I enquired about if shipping can be done using couriers like DHL or FEDEX, the agent told me it is available but the cost would be enormous.
According to Buyeos, it takes about 2-5 days (recently been extended to 5-7 days) for the items to reach to Buyeos‘ warehouse in China and the estimated time of delivery from China Brunei is around 4-6 days. So give or take 2 weeks. This, is of course, only an estimate and please take this only as a reference. Delivery time depends on factors such as availability of stocks, holidays, customs inspections, etc.
Refer to this page for more info on shipping and charges: https://www.facebook.com/notes/buyeos-bruneis-taobao-agent/shipping-rates-charges/158228914335364
Service fee is at fixed rate of 10% on every payment. To be honest I am not entirely sure where the service fee is factored in but I am prepared to say that you get charged 10% of each item. For example, the fake Liz Lisa short dress is priced at ¥55.20 + 10% of 55.20 (¥5.52) = ¥60.72 (approx. BND$16.492).
Refer to this page for more info on agent fee: https://www.facebook.com/notes/buyeos-bruneis-taobao-agent/agent-fee/158232751001647
Payment
The only current available payment method is bank transfer/cash deposit to Baiduri Bank. I had asked about the possibility of paying through PayPal and the agent told me it is can be done but is not encouraged due to the PayPal fees involved.
Once the money is deposited into the account, customers are to send an image of the receipt to Buyeos (through FB or Whatsapp). And only after that they will process your orders.
I would suggest paying for the items by depositing the money through the Baiduri ATM over paying at the counter since you could save queueing time but you have to round the amount to the nearest dollar. No coins accepted. Also I had a hard time getting the machine to accept my money. Apparently it won’t accept the notes from the 2011 series (luckily at that time there was no one queueing behind me) so I had to use notes from an older series.
Communication
Since the company runs on Facebook and you can also reach them via whatsapp so communication is quite prompt. Though, one time I left a message expecting a quick response but it was only past midnight (around 1 am) when I received a reply. That was just odd.
Another thing about Buyeos also is that for deliveries to Brunei, customers won’t get tracking numbers which for most customers this may not be a big deal but for me I’d like to be able to track the items on my own so I’m a bit disappointed when Buyeos told me the tracking number is only available in their system (though I think there shouldn’t be any problem retrieving the TN from the system).
But overall they are friendly and they pretty much answer every questions you throw at them.
My verdict:
Buyeos is a reliable agent and the shopping experience is generally smooth. However, if you want to buy something, it is best to make the payment as soon as you can considering items on Taobao can get sold out pretty fast especially from shops with high seller ratings. The shipping to Brunei is relatively cheaper compared to some other shopping services (though I once bought a dress from Aliexpress.com with free shipping). I suggest read the notes on Buyeos page carefully and ask them any questions before placing orders.
